North Ridgeville Library hosts life-size Candy Land game

Carol Harper/charper@MorningJournal.com
Sean Giannetta, 6, and Ariah Giannetta, 3, follow the color cards playing Candy Land Saturday at the North Ridgeville Branch of the Lorain Public Library system.

NORTH RIDGEVILLE – A life-size Candy Land game invited about 35 children to travel along a pathway of colors to a treat after the rainbow Saturday at the North Ridgeville Branch of the Lorain Public Library System.
“You should each have your gingerbread on,” said “Miss Jen” Winkler, children’s librarian at North Ridgeville Branch. As Winkler held up a color card and coached, the next child advanced a square or two of that color.
Carol Webb, of North Ridgeville, snapped photographs and waited while her grandchildren, Anthony, 7, Sean, 6, and Ariah, 3, all Giannetta, followed the path and selected a piece of candy or a sticker at the end.
“We come pretty regularly,” Webb said, adding they plan to return for a bird feeder craft available from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 17. “I saw it on the board when I was here the other night. We love the library.”
Mark O’Callahan, of North Ridgeville, watched as his three-year-old son, Matthew O’Callahan, waited patiently on his colored squares until his turn to move.
“It’s fun for the kids,” O’Callahan said.
The path of colored squares wound across the floor, past a Peppermint Forest, Candy Castle, and Gumdrop Mountains. Everyone received a treat of a sucker, Smarties, candy canes or stickers.
Kelsey DeCoste, a student aide from Baldwin Wallace University, greeted families at the door and asked them to visit the children’s section until the next round of the game.
“He won,” said Carol Ward, of North Ridgeville, as she left the room with her son, Zachary Ward, 5. “It’s the first time he’s played. I thought (the game) was cute. It was a last minute thing. We came in to sign up for baseball, and they said, ‘Why don’t you play Candy Land?’ So we stuck around, and he won.”
Winkler, from Westlake, said a previous children’s librarian developed the life-size Candy Land game last year.
“It’s something we want to do annually,” Winkler said, adding other branches might request to use the game, too. For information about events at the Lorain Public Library System, visit the library's website.